1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to intelligent electronic devices for electrical power systems, and more particularly, to an intelligent electronic device having an audible and visual interface for providing audible and visual instructions to a user in an event of an alarm or trouble indication in the electrical power system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric utility companies (“utilities”) track electric usage by customers by using power meters. These meters track the amount of power consumed at a particular location. These locations range from power substations, to commercial businesses, to residential homes. The electric utility companies use information obtained from the power meter to charge its customers for their power consumption, i.e. revenue metering.
A popular type of power meter is the socket-type power meter, i.e., S-base or Type S meter. As its name implies, the meter itself plugs into a socket for easy installation, removal and replacement. Other meter installations include panel mounted, switchboard mounted, and circuit breaker mounted. Additional meter forms include switchboard drawout forms, substation panel metering forms, and A-base front wired forms. Typically the power meter connects between utility power lines supplying electricity and a usage point, namely a residence or commercial place of business. All the forms are used for similar purposes and are in need of visual and audible alarms.
A power meter may also be placed at a point within the utility's power grid to monitor power flowing through that point for distribution, power loss, or capacity monitoring, e.g., a substation. These power and energy meters are installed in substations to provide a visual display of real-time data and to alarm when problems occur. These problems include limit alarms, breaker control, outages and many other types of events. Conventionally, the visual display includes numerical information and/or an alarm indication, e.g., a LED, on the face of the meter. To determine the specific type and/or cause of the alarm, a user may have to scroll through numerous lines of information, inspect the actual piece of equipment relating to the alarm or review the alarm information at a headend of a SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system which may be in a different location from the meter. All of these scenarios will delay rectifying the problem and may increase downtime of a consumer receiving the power. Furthermore, once the problem is identified, the user will have to retrieve correction procedures and/or equipment manuals to rectify the problem causing further delays.
Therefore, a need exists for devices, systems and methods for providing audible and visual instructions to a user at a location of an alarm or trouble event in an electrical power system to facilitate rectifying the event.